Ashford & Simpson - It Seems to Hang On

RIP Nick! Biography by William Ruhlmann: Nickolas Ashford (b. May 4, 1942 Fairfield, SC - d. Aug 22, 2011 NYC) and Valerie Simpson (b. Aug 26, 1946, New York City) have two careers, as songwriters and as performers, with the former seemingly more important than the latter until the mid-'80s. The two met in 1964 and scored their first songwriting hit in 1966 with Ray Charles' recording of their "Let's Go Get Stoned." After a period at Scepter Records, they moved to Motown, where they wrote hits for the duo of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell ("Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," "You're All I Need to Get By"). When Diana Ross left the Supremes for a solo career, Ashford & Simpson wrote "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand" for her.

Their own performing career was launched in 1973 with Keep It Comin' on Motown and Gimme Something Real on Warner Bros. Their first success came in 1977 with the gold-selling Send It, which contained the Top Ten R&B hit "Don't Cost You Nothing." Is It Still Good to Ya, a second gold album, contained the number two R&B hit "It Seems to Hang On" in 1978. Stay Free, their third straight gold album, contained "Found a Cure," another R&B smash that also made the Top 40 on the pop chart. A Musical Affair, in 1980, featured the hit "Love Don't Make It Right," but was not as successful as previous efforts.

Meanwhile, Ashford & Simpson continued to work with other artists, scoring successes with Ross, Chaka Khan ("I'm Every Woman"), and Gladys Knight. Their own career saw a resurgence in 1984 with Solid, which went gold and produced the R&B number one "Solid" (number 12 on the pop charts), "Outta the World," and "Babies." During the late '80s and two following decades, Ashford & Simpson continued to tour and record sporadically.

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[Apsu72]

'Til death did they part. THAT'S how a Black marriage is supposed to end!

[royalcoils100]

Thanx for a shining example of black love!

[Ajtori93]

this is one of my fav old school jams.the melody sounds good and i bet folks dance nonstop back in the days.

[ThePocahontas225]

@19Yahudah that's right

[Tucomen]

@Apsu72 That should be marriage in general, regardless of color!

[19Yahudah]

They are soul mates, devils in the industry always try to seperate couples... they hate to see people win...TOGETHER! with thier miserable asses! Aint No Body Coming Between Me & My Man! Straight up!

[2012lacruz]

For some strange reason I like this song. R.I.P. Nick.

[Azure720]

May God reunite them in heaven. They were wonderful together and they gave me hope.

[Azure720]

Amen. This song is the one in my heart.

[spellbound008]

the groove*

[spellbound008]

yes RT i luv rgw groove and pacing of this

[RT10365]

Pure genius! This came on the radio this morning as part of a tribute to all of the artist that passed over the last year. This song stuck to me all day. Incredible songwriting and performance!